The purpose of the research presented in the article is to reveal the dependence of the changes in the requirements to students on the level of the development of the society. Its topicality is connected with the necessity to match the requirements to the students in the educational process and the character of professional tasks that would be solved by them in the future. The tasks, in their turn, are determined by the concept of labour in the intellectual labour society. The key characteristics of the activity-competence basis of professional activity are shown.
